Fear the Reaper

by Richard Murray

Another Feral fell beneath my blade and I turned, eager to face the next. Two of my people were down, their blood pooling beneath them and more Ferals were massing further along the road. Clearly, we had been supposed to be further ahead before they sprang their trap when there would have been enough to overwhelm us fully.

  “How many?” Samuel asked as he peered ahead. There was blood all across the front of his jacket.

  “Thirty, forty?” I said. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Maybe not to you,” he muttered and then louder. “Form up!”

  The remaining acolytes bunched up, back to back in a rough circle with Samuel and myself at the front, facing the enemy. We would not be taken from behind and though they would swarm us, we would not die easily.

  “It was an honour to serve you, My Lord Death,” Samuel said with something in his voice I couldn’t identify.

  Probably sarcasm.

  A zombie pushed past the others, seeming to be taller, though that could be because it walked fully upright while the Ferals were always hunched over. It was naked and where its breasts had been, were just scar tissue. I wondered at that oddity as I recalled the last Feral Leader and its missing genitals.

  It raised a clawed hand and pointed at us, then down at the ground. I shifted my weight as I prepared for its attack.

  “Think it’s trying to say this is its territory,” Samuel said.

  Great, even the zombies are better at communication than me!

  “You think?”

  “Makes sense.” He paused and added, “might not be interested in a fight.”

  That was disturbing since it indicated that the leaders had some kind of higher thought processes than the others. Intelligence was not something I appreciated in my enemies. I gave a half-hearted shrug.

  “Who cares?”

  I took a step forward, a surprised Samuel following with a barked order to the others to advance. I had no need to hide my grin behind my hood and I almost laughed out loud as the zombie watched me take a second step, then a third.

  The Feral Leader issued a roar and the massed undead shot forwards, some dropping to all fours to race ahead and meet us. I stopped my advance and braced myself as I waited for them.

  A zombie leapt at me, claws flashing towards my face and missed as I ducked, stepping forward to slam my shoulder against its belly. It dropped to the ground, momentum halted and I stabbed out with my knife, killing the next as it reached for me.

  My focus narrowed as everything around me faded into background noise. It became all about the killing. Ensuring that my blade found its mark, slaying any zombie that came within reach. They tried to surround us, tried to swarm us, but the acolytes with me were all well practised in the arts of killing.

  The corpses piled up, occasionally a black-garbed body falling amongst them and time became impossible to measure. We could have fought for hours, or days, most likely minutes. It was all the same.

  Another zombie died beneath my blade and I gasped in pain as a clawed hand managed to score a hit, tearing away cloth and skin, the scent of my own blood filling my nose. I bit back a curse and rammed my blade into the skull of the zombie that had damaged me.

  It fell and the Feral Leader was before me. One of my acolytes dashed forward, leaving the rough circle we’d formed, blade held ready. The zombie kicked out, the claw-like bones on its feet tearing through the damaged leather jacket and his stomach beyond. He died screaming.

  The zombie hissed and took a step towards me as thunder rolled across the sky, the flash of lightning striking down somewhere in the city. It hesitated and I wasted no time, stepping forward and plunging my blade into its stomach.

  There was something akin to surprise in its eyes, and it watched me as though wondering why I’d bothered. I just grinned and dragged my knife across its body. Something spilt out onto the ground and I gagged at the foul stench as the zombie hissed.

  Its hand closed over my throat and I had a moment to catch its eye before a thrown knife glanced off its cheekbone, leaving a deep gash in the skin. It growled, and I rammed my blade up beneath its chin.

  “Dammit!” I snapped as the blade stopped well before it should have.

  The creature released me, pulling away from my blade and I stepped back into line with my acolytes. More of my followers dashed ahead to join the fight and I laughed at the zombie, wondering for a moment, how it felt to be ambushed.

  “Kill them all!” I called and the battle was joined as the four Fists of acolytes that had been waiting in the subway station joined the fight.

  It was short and bloody, the Ferals fought hard but struggled to get through the thick leather jackets before our blades could sink into their brains. The leader, surrounded and wounded, fought well.

  With an almost instinctive skill, it spun and twisted, using it’s clawed hands and feet to great effect. An acolyte screamed as his throat was torn out by clawed hands, another fell to the ground, hands moving to the growing patch of crimson between his legs where a well-placed kick had torn through his jeans.

  The monster swiped out with its claws and a black-garbed figure squealed as her eyes were pierced and then it stopped, looking around warily at the advancing acolytes. With a final growl of anger, it turned and ran.

  As silence fell, I sheathed my blades and removed my gore covered gloves before reaching up to the wound on my neck.

  “Doesn’t look too bad,” Samuel said. “I’ll clean it for you.”

  “My thanks,” I said with a nod that hurt like hell.

  “Should we chase it?” he asked with a nod towards the fleeing leader.

  “No. Clean the wounds of the living and ensure the dead don’t rise,” I told him. “For all we know, we give chase and we’ll run right into another ambush.”

  “We can’t leave it free!”

  “I have no intention of letting it survive,” I said with a grin. “But rushing headlong through the city is beyond foolish. No, we will give chase but do so on our terms. We will track it down and ensure we survive long enough to kill it.”

  “Good plan,” he grunted. “I’m glad I didn’t talk you out of bringing the others.”

  “Didn’t expect to need them so soon,” I admitted. “Thought we’d be several blocks away with them following behind, just out of sight, before we had need.”

  “Aye, well, times are changing it seems.”

  They certainly were. That was two Feral Leaders in two days. The one we’d just faced had more zombies under its control than the other had. But then, aside from the buildings, our section of the city had been cleansed of most of the undead on the streets.

  Some were still about, we couldn’t find them all and they were always managing to break out of the buildings. The latest one had a few more zombies under its control but was still in a part of the city we had been clearing.

  I had to wonder what we would find in the sections we’d not been to. How many leaders were there? And how many zombies could they control? The horde that I’d delayed was still out there, on the edges of the city. If they found a way past the rivers, there would be tens of thousands more undead spilling into the city and if these leaders took control… well, we wouldn’t last long.

  Not that it mattered, I realised. No matter how many of them there were, we would fight them and most likely die while killing as many of them as possible. Not a terrible way to go, when all was said and done.

  With a nod of thanks to Samuel as he tied off the bandage, I gathered my followers up with a gesture and set off through the city.

  Chapter 25 – Lily

  “Everything good?” I asked and Lars nodded, barely looking my way as he stared out over the city.

  “Some people were brought in earlier, ma’am,” Mark added and I nodded.

  “Yeah, I saw. More than a dozen of them. Some kids too.”

  It had been nice to be able to point them out to the Admiral. More refugees saved by Ryan’s followers. More proof that perhaps he was doing the right thing and
had asked for nothing in return.

  I reached down and touched Jinx on her furry head and smiled down at her as she looked up at me, those big brown eyes meeting mine and bringing me comfort.

  “Anything else to report?”

  “No,” Lars said, as taciturn as ever.

  “Thought not.”

  Things had been quiet, other than those refugees arriving. The zombies across the river stared at our boats hungrily as first one departed and then another arrived. They hadn’t left their position and I very much doubted that they would anytime soon.

  I gave my squad mates a wave and crossed the roof to the middle building. The narrow plank bridge across the wide gap still gave me pause and I was concerned for Jinx, but once again, she showed no concern as she trotted across it.

  Her tail wagged as she approached Gregg and he flashed her a smile as she let him pet her. My tone was decidedly frosty as I spoke.

  “Report.”

  “Nothing to see,” he said.

  “All clear, ma’am,” Kerry agreed.

  My newest squad member stood to attention. She was a pretty woman in her twenties with brown hair tied up in a bun. Unlike most of the CDF, she had escaped on a boat early on. The zombies had been a threat to her, but she’d only seen them at a distance.

  I was a little unsure of her since she’d yet to see any real action having been picked up by the fleet and stuck in a refugee camp for most of the past year. Still, she was eager enough to prove herself that I thought she might do okay, so long as she was guided a little.

  “Have you seen this Reaper class of zombie yet?” I asked.

  “Nah,” Gregg replied. “Wouldn’t know how to tell the difference anyway.”

  “Just a lot of deadheads standing on the docks watching us,” Kerry said.

  “Will make it a bitch and a half to get to the docks from the river,” Gregg added.

  He seemed to be ignoring my less than pleased tone and watched me unrepentantly. Technically, he had missed the boat because he was having one of the medics check the scars around his eye. He’d complained of some issue or other and while I knew for a fact that it was bullshit, I couldn’t prove it.

  Not that anyone would care. It was a minor issue and every warm body we had was needed for when we tried to retake the docks. Not that we’d heard any real confirmation that that was the plan, but we all knew that the fleet was done without them.

  “Can’t see that we have much choice,” I said. “We could try and land up-river but they would still have ample time to set ambushes all over the damned place.”

  “Some riflemen on boats would be able to clear those docks easy,” Kerry said enthusiastically and I shook my head.

  “No, look.”

  I pointed down at the mass of undead. They filled the open space on the docks and from our vantage point, we could clearly see that they were spread throughout the rabbit warren of containers and junk that filled the yards.

  More than that, in the distance we could see movement as the Ferals moved about, chivvying the slower moving undead into place.

  “There are maybe three or four hundred just on the docks. Twice as many spread through the maze of buildings and storage around the main yard and those are just the ones we can see. We could use every bullet we had left and still have more to kill.”

  “Will be hand to hand,” Gregg agreed. “Only way to do it.”

  “And no matter where we land, they’ll be ready for us,” I said.

  “Shame the bridges are down or we could go by road,” Kerry said. “Or through the tunnel, if they hadn’t collapsed it.”

  “Yeah, but even then…” I stopped as a thought occurred to me. “Well now…”

  I drummed my fingers on the edge of the roof as I looked down on the shipyard. A large central building, still with the skeletal framework of the ship inside, towered above the surrounding area. There were the docks, the yard full of containers and scrap and behind them, more buildings.

  All fairly standard and pretty much what we had seen before but beyond them… I nodded slowly to myself as I realised that it might be possible.

  “Even what?” Gregg asked and I waved him to silence so he didn’t disturb my train of thought.

  “Where’s that acolyte?” I asked, looking around. “Ah, there.”

  She stood over by the door to the stairwell, arms crossed as she kept a careful eye on me. I headed her way, only thinking to wave farewell to Gregg as I was halfway across the bridge. Her eyes met mine as I approached and she pushed herself away from the wall.

  “Tell me about the subway system,” I said before she could speak.

  ****

  I was ushered into the office the Admiral had taken to using and my arm faltered mid-salute as I recognised the person seated before him.

  “Charlie!”

  “Hey, chick,” she said cheerfully.

  It had been some time since I’d last seen her and as far as I’d been aware, she was in charge of some project that would use those drones she was so fond of.

  She looked much the same, her tightly curled hair tied up in a topknot of sorts and perhaps a few extra tattoos visible on her bare arms. I couldn’t understand how she could wear a t-shirt and shorts in September.

  “I didn’t realise you were here!” I said, momentarily forgetting myself.

  “Ahem,” Admiral Stuart said and I almost hit myself in my head with my hand as I rushed to salute. Charlie’s laughter filled the small room.

  “Sir.”

  “What can I do for you, lieutenant?”

  “Ah,” I glanced at Charlie. “I’ve had an idea.”

  “Do go on,” he said and gestured towards Charlie. “Miss Walsh is here to provide reconnaissance of the shipyards. Her input will be of use if your idea is to do with the planned assault.”

  “You have planned one then?” I asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Up or down-river?” I asked shrewdly as he raised his eyebrows, a smile forming. “A full-on assault on the docks will get a lot of people killed and if you need Charlie, that means you plan to see if you can find a route towards this Reaper zombie.”

  “Reaper?” Charlie asked and was ignored.

  “You’re not far off,” Admiral Stuart admitted. “My priority will be securing the shipyards with minimal loss of life.”

  “Maybe I have another way.”

  “Do tell,” he said and gestured to a seat that had been moved to one side to accommodate Charlie’s chair.

  I seated myself, taking a moment to compose my thoughts. I needed them to be as coherent as possible to be able to make my point.

  “There’s a subway system that runs around the centre of Glasgow,” I began.

  “I’m aware of that,” he said thoughtfully. “You friend, Ryan, has his base of operations on one. It was in your report.”

  “Ryan?” Charlie said. “That nutter’s here?”

  I grimaced and nodded as the Admiral watched with a bemused smile.

  “Yeah and according to the…” I looked and Charlie and sighed. “According to one of his acolytes, there’s a subway station not that far from the shipyards.”

  “He has acolytes? What the hell have I missed?” Charlie asked and was once again ignored.

  “Show me on the map,” he said, pulling out an old map of the city and spreading it on his desk.

  There were already a number of notations on it showing the location of our own base and troops. He’d even marked the location of the fleet out beyond the mouth of the river. I found the dockyards and traced my finger a half a kilometre to the east.

  “There,” I said pointing to a place that was about a hundred metres away from the river. “That’s where it is.”

  He leaned forward, eyes moving rapidly as he gauged distances and roads that crisscrossed the area. His lips pursed as he nodded slowly to himself.

  “We go through the subway system while maintaining a force here,” I said. “Have that force out on
the water drawing the attention of the Shamblers.”

  “Go on,” he said, the smile on his face was supportive and encouraging. He wasn’t a man who resented other people having good ideas.

  “Well, we can use the drones to keep an eye on things and the radios to coordinate,” I continued. “A second force can come out of the subway station and make our way to the rear. Once in place, we can attack.”

  “Not a bad plan at all,” he said. “With one flaw.”

  “Sir?”

  “I can’t risk bringing more people here. If we fail, the fleet and the island will still have a defence force. If we bring in more people and fail, that puts them at risk.”

  “Okay…”

  “We have around a hundred troops to work with,” he continued. “If we split them in half, we won’t have enough. A too small force will be surrounded and killed while the other too small force is unable to reach them.”

  “Then we ask Ryan for help,” I said. “He has another hundred or so followers.”

  “Followers? Seriously, what have I missed?”

  “Perhaps,” the Admiral said. “But I’m not ready to trust them.”

  “Let me go and talk to him,” I suggested. “See if we can come to some agreement.”

  The Admiral tapped on his lips as he stared off into the distance, his mind clearly elsewhere. No doubt weighing up options and trying to decide what was best for his people. I didn’t envy him at all. I’d been in charge of groups before and had hated knowing that people might die because of choices I made.

  For him, the last known remnants of humanity might die if he made the wrong choice. I could understand his hesitation when it came to an unknown factor like Ryan. If he actually knew the truth about who and what Ryan was, I imagine the choice would be easy.

  “Gather your squad,” he said finally.

  “Sir?”

  “I think that it’s time I met this man.”

  Oh crap!

  Chapter 26 – Ryan

  My shoulder ached, pain shot through me with every step I took on my injured leg and I was pretty sure that blood from the gash on my neck was seeping through the bandage. More than all that though, I was annoyed.